Thalassophobia
by IsaacTheGreat
Summary: Has anyone ever wondered what would happen to Dirk during a tsunami or hurricane? Even the indomitable Dirk Strider has to be afraid of something.


He woke up to the sky giving him a big "go fuck yourself". Within half an hour, ocean water crashed against the windows of his apartment with a deafening roar that caused the fragile structure to shake. Dirk Strider sat in the dark, his only company the two robots wrapped around him like a protective metal shell. Dirk curls into himself, refusing to close his eyes because it makes the sounds worse, and instead stares right at his window. Another wave surges up to crash against the window panes, making them rattle, and Dirk flinches. Sawtooth slows his fans, making his metal warmer, and Dirk lets his head rest on Sawtooth's chest.

The apartment physically shakes with a strong gust of wind, and Dirk stops breathing. He isn't scared of the storm itself, but he's terrified of what could happen. He's scared the apartment won't hold, that the repairs he has to keep doing on the structure won't be enough and the metal will rust and he'll fall into the ocean.

He's afraid of drowning.

His fear turned into obsession. Hours, days of research on bridge structures, the ocean causing erosion, and metal compounds. Hours of building and planning and making sure the apartment is as stable as possible. Days of trying to convince himself it wasn't going to collapse when Sawtooth came home one day with a storm warning. Minutes of going over the math, seconds of calm before he fell asleep.

Now he's sitting on the floor, back to the futon as he watched the ocean beat at his window, and wishing he'd made _something_ to protect the windows from breaking, or protect against water coming in when the windows do finally crack. A loud moan sounds below and sends Dirk's heart into a frenzy. It's happening, he's going to die, the structure is failing, _he's going to die and he's not even 16-_

A deep metallic baritone cuts through his panic. "DiStri, you ain't gonna die. Square and I won't let that fly. Won't even let you try. Now take a deep breath, and ignore thoughts of death." Dirk takes a breath, which comes out as a low whine when the structure groans under another aquatic assault. Squarewave lets out a few manic beeps, tightening his grip on Dirk, and the cool metal digging into his bare shoulder grounds him. Dirk stands on shaky legs, prying himself free of his metallic cocoon and moves over to his laptop, dropped unceremoniously on the futon when the storm had gotten too bad for distractions.

His mouse idles over the chumhandle tipsyGnostalgic as he has an internal debate with himself. Roxy is his best friend; more than that even. She already knows his phobia, but he still has reservations about breaking his self-imposed aloof persona long enough to admit how horribly he's quaking right now.

Evidently, Roxy seems to decide for him and before he can shut his laptop to go hide in the bathroom, there's a new chat window up with her handle in bright orange demanding his attention.

tipsyGnostalgic [TG] began pestering timaeusTestified [TT] at 16:32 -

TG: dikr

TG: *dirk

TG: suuuup

TT: Hey Roxy.

TG: how uou doibn

TG: ?

TT: Oh you know

TT: Just wishing I didn't live in the middle of the ocean.

TT: Metaphorically shitting my pants.

TT: The usual.

TG: you gotta relalx dirky

TG: notins gona haopen

TG: ew both checkes thid shti out earliler remeber

TG: your adjujments are prefect

TT: I know but

TG: butt nohing

TG: relaaaaaacx

Dirk took a deep breath, letting it out in a loud sigh as thunder crashed outside and water sprayed his windows once again.

TT: Okay.

TT: Thanks.

TG: no porbs

TG: neeed me to videdo chit?

He hardly hesitated.

TT: Sure.

A notification popped up on his screen for a request to video chat from Roxy just as a huge wave slammed into the side of the apartment, making Dirk shriek and jump, accidentally hitting 'enter' and starting the call.

"Tsk. Dirky. Lookit me." Dirk's head spun around in an uncharacteristically manic manner. Roxy's expression went from one of concern to one of happiness, trying to cheer up her friend.

"There we go! Now how'sa 'bout we play a lil game, huh?"

Dirk took a breath and nodded, calming down. He knew if Roxy was there, he would be okay.


End file.
